Scrolling through social media during July and August, it can feel like everyone is on vacation—and especially celebrities, whose lavish holidays are incessantly splashed across tabloids for all the world to see. (Or even via their own Instagram stories: they may try to be cryptic, but you know those pictures of sunsets, infinity pools, or crystalline seas could only have been taken from the deck of a yacht.) Still, when those famous faces decide to decamp from their Architectural Digest-worthy homes in Los Angeles, New York, or London, where exactly do they go?
Below, a guide to some of the best celebrity vacations this year—as well as where they stayed, where they dined, and what they did. Who knows: maybe it will inspire a dream trip of your own.
Gwyneth Paltrow: Umbria, Italy
Where did wellness mogul Gwyneth Paltrow head for some rest and relaxation this summer? Umbria: the idyllic Italian region located just southeast of Tuscany. On Instagram, she posted a picture with her husband Brad Falchuk lounging by an infinity pool at a stone villa with bucolic rolling hills in the background. True to foodie form, she also posted a cannoli from Sandri, a famous bakery in Perugia that dates back to 1860.
Recently, the under-the-radar destination has been attracting quite the glamorous clientele, including Lady Gaga and Victoria Beckham. It’s all been aided by the opening of Castello di Reschio, a 5-star hotel housed in a millennium-old castle that sits upon 3,700 acres in the heart of the Umbrian countryside.
Dua Lipa: Sifnos, Greece
Dua Lipa has been on a grand tour of Greece this summer along with her boyfriend, director Romain Gavras. Some of her stops? The Parthenon in Athens, the Peloponnese peninsula, and the island of Sifnos.
